Open Dialogue Research Journal
For much of the post-Cold War period, Slovakia occupied a relatively quiet place in European politics. Nestled between larger Central European powers and deeply integrated into the European Union and NATO, the country rarely shaped continental debates. Today, however, Prime Minister Robert Fico has transformed Slovakia into one of Europe’s […]
Twenty-five years of overlapping claims, a collapsed joint development agreement, and deadly border clashes have finally pushed Cambodia and Thailand into a formal UN arbitration process – one so rarely used that only a single prior case exists to serve as a model for how it might actually play out. […]
On Wednesday, 16 September 2026, something happened in Strasbourg that would have seemed pure fantasy just a few years ago. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, delivering her annual State of the Union address, formally proposed that Canada become the European Union’s first “associate member.” Canadian Prime Minister Mark […]
Had former Chancellor Angela Merkel and her successors remained true to Helmut Kohl’s vision, then the AfD might never have become Germany’s most popular party, so its astronomical rise is entirely their fault. Putin was asked about the AfD’s recent landslide victory in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on the sidelines of […]
On 17 February 2026, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a sweeping measure: from 1 May 2026, China would lift import tariffs on goods from the 53 African Union (AU) member states that maintain diplomatic relations with Beijing. The policy-covering goods worth more than $116 billion, roughly Africa’s 2024 exports to […]
This was arguably a preemptive de-escalation move that would also gauge the US’ intentions. The New York Times (NYT) interviewed Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul as part of their coverage of the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power. Muttaqi invited the US to reopen its embassy and […]
When the Trump administration abducted the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife on January 3, an open incitement to international lawbreaking was asserted. Here was thuggish impunity, crude acquisition and harsh plunder in operation: the seizure of a sovereign leader in office on fanciful narco-terrorist charges, a violation of […]
The US’ newly formalized control over the majority of Venezuela’s oil reserves and Caracas’ potential withdrawal from OPEC could see Trump 2.0 assembling a “North American-South American Petroleum Exporting Countries” group as part of the US’ power play for control over the global oil market. Trump announced over the weekend that the […]
Russia continues its long-term strategy to develop the Arctic, develop new oil and gas fields, turning the Northern Sea Route into the most important transit and the shortest sea transport artery between Europe and Asia, which is fully under Russian control, and all escort of ships along it is provided […]
Just weeks after Washington and Tehran appeared to pull back from the brink of a wider regional conflict, renewed military exchanges are once again raising concerns about one of the world’s most strategically important maritime corridors. Fresh attacks involving commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have highlighted the fragility […]
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